Kudos to J.R. Shaw
My compliments to J.R. Shaw, the former executive director of the Washington County Tourism and Promotion Agency, for a job well done. Reading about his departure has me wondering why. Shaw was the most positive influence for heritage tourism since the 1970s, when the agency was directed by Charlotte Lane.
As county history and heritage are my primary interests, I question where we go from here. Over the last several years, the county’s tourism office has been instrumental in supporting heritage groups, both large and small, and all often staffed mostly by volunteers. Indeed, in certain cases, it has been the lifeblood of their survival.
Tourism promotion cannot exist in a vacuum and cannot be a faceless entity. Why did the agency pull out of the restored train station in downtown Washington, where they were highly visible?
While casinos, oil and gas exploration and other non-heritage activities definitely have a place in our immediate future, we also need to look at the long-term picture, and ask what our legacy will be when the revenue from gas and gambling have dwindled.
In the 1970s, when Jamie van Trump of Pittsburgh toured Washington County, he stated that we had far more important historic sites because we fortunately had not undergone a “renaissance.”
We can certainly move forward without losing our past.
Sandy Mansmann
Eighty Four